Original post Dec 30th 2008- Front Concept

Here’s the concept for the Front Elevation. I have to give some credit for the inspiration for the front of the house to a book by Marianne Cusato and Ben Pentreath called “Get Your House Right”. It’s a wonderfully illustrated book showing may classical details and proportion guidelines. While this works very well for classical and renaissance architecture, it does not help (in general) with more medieval inspired designs, such as Tudor Revival or French Eclectic, which is the bulk of my work.

However, on page 33, there is a wonderful sketch of a nicely balanced Tudor styled house (in contrast to a modern “Old World” conglomeration) that I’ve been taken with for a while now. This elevation is not done with the exact same detailing or massing (and indeed, it will probably continue to morph over time as the design progresses.) But I wanted to show where the kernel of the idea came from.

Proportion wise, there are some issues here. The dormer over the library windows feels large to me (I am of course trying to balance this with egress capable windows). I may go back to a single window. I’m not sure of the design and scale of the chimney yet (although it’s placement works well I think). I’ll probably try several different versions until I have it as I like.